Divine(ish) Characters Clash in Hunter x Hunter

This is one of many frames in episode 128 that gives a sense of divinity to the
whole situation, and Meruem in particular. Also, this beauty is one reason I was
so trigger-happy with the screenshots last week.

Just in case you somehow missed it, Hunter x Hunter has been dripping with references to religion and deity lately. I have several screenshots from the most recent episode which display it, but it's not limited to episode 128, or even to the King (aka Meruem). I think it's worth taking a few minutes to explore.

First off, there's Netero, chairman of the Hunters Association. His character is a walking, fighting reference to Buddhism, and even we Westerners have very little excuse for missing it. I have very limited education on Buddhism, so my explanation of the connections will be, at best, sparse, and I highly recommend using your favorite search engine for more thorough information. But here are the connections I've been able to make:

The first clue is his ears. Those long earlobes are typical in portrayals of buddhas and bodhisattvas. I've read a couple of reasons for the long ears. The primary reason is apparently the Buddha's past princehood. He would have worn heavy earrings and jewelry like other people of his station before he gave it all up. After his "enlightenment," the earrings were gone, but the ears remained stretched. There are also associations with him being all-hearing and such... again, I highly recommend you research this yourself.

If the ears aren't enough, then Netero's 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva (Japanese is Hyakushiki Kannon) should alert even the least informed Western teenager to the fact that there's something religious going on. I mean, first of all, in order to develop this move, Netero went through intense training with a lot of praying and mediation, as shown several episodes ago. 

Then there's the ability's name. I don't recognize the "Guanyin" part from my past education, but bodhisattvas are Buddhist saints - enlightened ones who have refrained from entering Niravana themselves in order to help others reach enlightenment. A little research shows that Guanyin (aka Avalokitesvara or Kannon) is one of the most famous bodhisattvas, and has become known as a goddess of mercy (although Guanyin used to be portrayed as a prince). 

Episode 125, the King fights Netero. Behind, you see the
manifestation of his 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Basically, the name "100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva" is important. But even without then name, the imagery makes it stand out. It's gold and bright, for one thing. It has many arms, something I recognize from Eastern religious icons. A quick Google search refers me to a legend in which Guanyin is given a thousand arms to help her reach everyone in need. 

So, yeah, Netero is tied to Buddhism and one particularly well-known, powerful bodhisattva. That's a rather divine connotation. Plus, while he and the King fight, music reminiscent of old Western church choirs plays in the background. 

But the King proves to be a worthy opponent - perhaps even superior. That's scary, since, despite his changing heart, murder is still an important part of his plans. If Netero has supernatural ties, then what does this imply about the King? 

When Netero stops his own heart, setting off the bomb, I hope the King is really dead. Sure, he's gotten nicer, but he's not exactly Mother Theresa, and I don't think anyone besides Netero has a chance of stopping him by force.

At the beginning of episode 128, the King looks dead. His appendages are gone, leaving only his upper torso and head. Both Youpi and Pouf are sobbing. But then... they notice a sign of life. Pouf starts feeding himself to the King. Youpi sees the improvement and joins the effort, liquifying his cells to drip into the King's mouth. They are the most delicious food the King has ever tasted, and that flattery delights them.

So, the King basically comes back to life. Deity point 1.

"Absolute being," huh? I think that's a slight exaggeration, but
I admit this episode makes Meruem look rather absolute.

He now wants to be called by his name, Meruem, which means "the light that shines on everything" (source: wiki). Deity point 2.

He's golden as he comes back to life, like an idol. Deity point 3.

There is a generally heavenly/divine environment: sky, winged creatures, columns reminiscent of Mount Olympus, golden background, etc. Deity point 4.


The wings may remind us of angels, but Meruem's royal guards, especially Youpi and Pouf, are a lot more like demons. Meruem's moral identity isn't set in stone yet - there is still a possibility of him becoming good (if, in fact, good really exists in this show). He isn't exactly a god, and he's certainly not up to snuff by Christian standards (sorry, Meruem, but we know the real God, and you're... pathetic next to Him). From what I've seen, there is no real god in Hunter x Hunter's world. But Meruem certainly seems godlike, and it's hard to imagine his defeat.

In fact, it's hard to imagine any satisfactory resolution right now. Will they be able to negotiate peace with Meruem? He promised Netero that he would limit human sacrifice and allow for survival of the human race, but can he be convinced to do even more? And how? By who? Certainly not by Gon - not the way Gon is now. Will Komugi have more influence?

Will they need to physically defeat Meruem? And how in the world can anyone manage that? It will take scores of episodes before anyone's ready to kill him - maybe even hundreds.

I knew that any battle with Netero, and especially between Netero and Meruem, would take Hunter x Hunter to a new level. But this... this is unexpected. The world order is being threatened by a superhuman being, a being whose traits are implied to be divine. The man renowned as the strongest Hunter in the world died trying to take him out. From what I've seen so far, even with serious teamwork, none of the other central characters stand a chance against the King of the Chimera Ants. Maybe, just maybe, Ging Freecss and some other powerful Hunters can do something, but they're not in the picture at the moment.

When Hunter x Hunter characters start looking divine, and Gon and Killua aren't among them, I'm forced to reevaluate my predictions. My new evaluation? I need to hold my guesses loosely and make no bets. This is approaching Naruto Shippuden-level epicness, except there is no promised savior rising to prominence. I no longer know what to expect.  

Blue Exorcist - My thoughts upon finishing it

I just finished watching Blue Exorcist. It was an interesting anime. I came away with a few thoughts, from a religious point of view, from a critical point of view, and about things I liked. It's about time for another anime post, so here we go.

Blue Exorcist in a nutshell:
This anime is about a teen, Okumura Rin, and his twin, Yukio. They're the sons of Satan and a young human woman. At the beginning, Rin has no clue about his heritage - they were raised by Fujimoto Shiro, a kind priest and exorcist. Then a few unfortunate things happen, Rin's demon powers are revealed, and he finds out the truth. Suddenly, he has a new goal in life: to become a great exorcist and take down Satan. He makes friends, learns more about his power, and fights demons.

Basically, it's a classic shounen anime that follows a route similar to other popular shounen anime. It's just about demons and exorcists, rather than martial artists or soul reapers.

From a religious point of view...
*Please note that, unless otherwise specified, the demons I compare Blue Exorcist demons to are those found in the Bible, not the ones found in other religions or legends. Also note that I take the Bible as truth, so I won't bother with hesitant phrases such as "I believe..." or "in my faith..."

I first noticed Blue Exorcist around Crunchyroll and Hulu when it came out back in the spring. It looked somewhat interesting. However, I had definite reservations about it. I'm a Christian. To me, Satan and his fellow demons aren't just interesting creatures to write stories about, nor are they to be taken lightly. They're fallen, evil angels who defied God. I'm not paranoid about them - God is ultimately in control, and has the power to overcome and prevent anything demons may try. There's a reason Satan doesn't have free reign on earth. Still, he is real, and the idea of defeating him without God is ludicrous to me. It might make for an interesting storyline, but it's still ludicrous.

Thus, I planned to avoid Blue Exorcist and enjoy anime that wouldn't bother my serious, conservative side. However, someone on Wattpad recommended that I try it out, so I did. I decided that I wouldn't get offended. I'm used to anime borrowing from customs, theology, and text associated with Christianity. Worst case scenario, I'd decide Blue Exorcist delved too deeply into things I hold as serious, and I'd have to drop the show partway through.

I didn't drop the show. However, I did raise my eyebrows at several things, and I wouldn't recommend Blue Exorcist  to any Christian who is easily offended. I'm not condemning this anime... but the religious aspects did hinder my enjoyment.

Okamura Rin in 2nd ep, displaying his powers

To begin with, the creators (or more specifically, Katou Kazue, who came up with the original story and manga), misrepresented what demons are. I think Katou crossed Biblical facts about demons with Japanese culture and myths, along with her imagination. Depending on the presentation, I don't usually care about this. For some reason, I did this time. Demons were portrayed as their own type of creature. Most of them were bad, but some of them were good and sided with the exorcists as "familiars." Satan, who was still portrayed as evil, even fell in love with a human.

Katou took the parts from Christianity that were found useful to her story and ignored the rest. She took Satan and demons, but ignored the good angels, not to mention God. She took the priests and Bible excerpts, but ignored the One who inspired the Bible and Whom the priests serve. Then she borrowed a few things from Buddhism and Shintoism. These, along with her imagination, all contributed to the exorcists and demons in the original manga, and then the show.

I don't blame Katou for incorporating parts of the Christian religion and beliefs into Blue Exorcist. They spurred her imagination and turned out quite the fantastical story and characters. Yet my mind was on guard as I watched the anime, always identifying references to Christianity, as well as fictional takes on demons.

From a just plain critical point of view...
Between watching anime, blogging about it, and writing a few reviews, I've naturally developed a more critical eye. So there were a few things about Blue Exorcist that bugged me.

If you've watched much anime, especially in the shoujo and shounen veins, the following scene should sound familiar:

"We're your friends. We're all in this together. So we're going to stick with you until the end."
Hero(ine): overly touched, humbled, completely shocked at friends' declaration, likely speechless. May say "Thanks, everyone!"

Sound familiar? Guess what? Blue Exorcist has a couple of scenes like that. Of course, at least one of the same super loyal friends had been predictably suspicious of the main character only an episode before, but let's not dwell on that, shall we?

Okay. Moving on... I'm a sucker for good family relationships, especially between siblings. So I appreciated Rin and his twin, Yukio's, support for each other. Yet there were times when their support went from sweet and cool to watch to mushy and over done, like the friend scene above.

Overall, the characters weren't much. Sure, Okumura Rin was pretty cool. And some of the other characters put up enjoyable shows. I particularly liked Rin's adoptive father, Fujimoto Shirou. But, for the most part, the characters and their stories were neither original nor deep (though deepness was attempted). There was the sweet, shy, beautiful girl, Moriyama Shiemi. She had her uses, but she was mostly just sweet and shy. And by sweet, I mean sweet and selfless in the way only fictional characters can be. The kind who happily lets her "friends" take advantage of her. Ugh. Then came the tough guy, the hopeless wimp, the tsundere (correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Kamiki Izumo qualifies as tsundere), the scantily-clad warrior, and so on.

The Okumura twins.

The things I liked...
There had to be some reason I watched the entire series, right? I mean, I did enjoy it most of the time.

The first thing Blue Exorcist had going for it was the relationship between the twin brothers. Like I said, I'm a sucker for things like that. I also loved their adoptive father and the monastery they grew up in. Okumura Rin was a fun character to watch nearly 100% of the time, even if he was pretty predictable and threw me no curveballs.

What else? There was action, which I always love. The animation was smooth, and the character designs generally pleasant to look at.

Basically, Blue Exorcist kept me interested by pure entertainment value.

In Sum:
Despite my misgivings, I ended up enjoying Blue Exorcist. Sure, the religious aspects sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, and there were a couple cheesy, overused moments. I wouldn't recommend it to any Christian who is easily offended. Still, I think most fans of shounen anime would like Blue Exorcist. 


*All pictures are from the anime Blue Exorcist and, obviously, do not belong to me.